foreign elements,” including Islamic extremists, are now operating in Syria, in its first report to say that outsiders have joined a war spiraling out of control.
The investigative panel appointed by the Human Rights Council says some of these forces are joining armed anti-government groups while others are operating on their own.
“Such elements tend to push anti-government fighters toward more radical positions,” the head of the panel, Brazilian diplomat and 바카라사이트 professor Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, told diplomats.
The Syrian uprising, which began with largely peaceful protests, has since morphed into a deadly armed insurgency. Hundreds of people are killed every week as the government increasingly relies on air power to try to crush the rebels.
Activists say more than 23,000 have been killed in the conflict.
The government denies that there is any popular will behind the revolt, saying it is driven by foreigners and terrorists. The regime could use the U.N. panel’s report to bolster its claims.
Rebels deny that foreigners had any role starting the revolt, which was one of a series of uprisings known as the Arab Spring. Rebels say Syrians were seeking increased freedom from the autocratic regime. But as the conflict dragged on, some rebels acknowledged the presence of small numbers of foreigners among their ranks.
The U.N. panel also accused government forces and pro-regime militiamen known as “shabiha” of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including murder, summary executions, torture, arbitrary arrests, sexual violence and abuse of children. It also accused anti-government armed groups of war crimes including murder, extrajudicial execution and torture.
In a report Monday, Human Rights Watch said it documented more than a dozen extrajudicial and summary executions by opposition forces.
It said three opposition leaders who were confronted with evidence of extrajudicial executions said those who killed deserved to be killed, and that only the “worst criminals were being executed.”
The New York-based group said torture and extrajudicial or summary executions of detainees in the context of an armed conflict are war crimes, and may constitute crimes against humanity if they are widespread and systematic.
Comentarios recientes